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30 Truisms About eBook Authoring

2012-02-26T15:06:28Z

WillyHunt3501: Created page with " The decision to author an eBook is a life-changing decision. The "fallout" from publishing an eBook will change forever the way you see yourself and the way others see..."

The decision to author an eBook is a life-changing decision. The "fallout" from publishing an eBook will change forever the way you see yourself and the way others see you.Why? That's difficult to say. But the following list of 30 Truisms gleaned from the experiences of successful eBook authors will help answer the question.So, what are you waiting for? Read the list. Make the decision to author an eBook.1. You will have access to a world-wide audience via the Internet 24/7 so your book store is always open. You will be amazed when you get downloads of your eBook from 100+ countries and you realize just how small the world really is.2. You can afford to give away free updated versions of your eBook because of the low cost of making changes and the virtually free delivery system.3. You can/must/should build a long-term relationship with your customers using email addresses supplied when your eBook is ordered. You can also use this list for communicating other offers to these same customers but never sell or give away your opt-in list.4. Your readers are a valuable source of feedback on your current eBook if given the opportunity. You can also use their feedback, questions, concerns, and requests to get insights into what other topics need to be addressed for the same target market.5. Communication skills are very important. You must learn how to write convincing ad and sales copy, effective eZine material, web site content and email communications. Enjoy the excitement of meeting new people all the time.6. Being in control of the entire eBook authoring process is both a blessing and a curse. You don't have to take orders and direction from anyone else. You are totally responsible for what happens with your eBook. It's an exciting proposition.7. eBook authoring can lead to self-employment. You can enhance current careers or start new ones. You can use your eBook as a secondary passive income or as a catalyst for an entirely new business. The possibilities are many.8. Make your dream of writing a book come true. eBooks can fill your authoring needs within a workable time frame, with minimal financial investment, with reasonable effort and with success guaranteed.9. You become involved in an adventure in creative writing, eBook technology, communication skills and building relationships.10. You have the opportunity to share your expertise, passion, and knowledge with an audience that needs your help. As a bonus, you are leaving a written legacy of your experiences, wisdom and insights.11. eBooks are the most cost efficient form of publishing available to you. Recovering your costs is guaranteed. Even if you never recover your initial financial investment, the experience of authoring a published book will still be worth it. Consider it an investment in you.12. The friendly letter style of writing found in eBooks is conducive to the personal conversation that takes place between the author and the reader. Anyone can effectively communicate in an eBook using simple every-day language and some good planning. eBooks are not academic dissertations.13. Because of the interactions possible between the author and the readers, it becomes a growth and learning experience for everyone. eBooks can be made as dynamic as you wish. Static standard published books don't have that option.14. As a published eBook author, you move from the realm of anonymous individual with plenty to share and no means to do it to a measure of importance because of your expertise as a published author. "Experts" have earned that status of respect.15. The majority of eBook authors can effectively write their book with little or no research. By "conversing" with the reader sharing what you already know and have experienced, you can fill in the details of your Table of Contents. Write - Research - Write. Write your entire book from memory. Go back and fill in the gaps with research. Then edit (re-write) to your final draft before publishing.16. You will learn as much about yourself as you will about your topic as you complete the eBook authoring journey.17. While marketing and selling your eBook you are also marketing and selling yourself. You are creating a Brand of both the eBook and yourself. You will be changed forever and be forever changing.18. The passiveness of earning income from your eBook may be new for many authors. You create your eBook once (excluding revisions) then go on with your life while the eBooks sells on the Internet 24/7 using auto-responders so you can carry on doing whatever you want to do. Passive income from working once and benefiting many times over is the principle that successful entrepreneurs use to build wealth.19. An "ordinary" person becomes an "extraordinary" person by authoring an eBook. Authoring is a transformational process. It awakens the author within you and moves you in to new personal and professional territory.20. eBook authors feel better about themselves acquiring inner and outer confidence, better self-esteem, more worthiness, recognition for their contribution to the world, and a sense of giving back.21. Self-employment as an eBook author brings with it tax benefits you may not otherwise have had. Expanding a business around your expert status as a published author, allows you to "profit" from the experience. You can actually use your eBook to build a full time business for now or your retirement.22. Authors come to realize very quickly how important the attitudes, skills, and knowledge they have acquired over the years is valued. By sharing wisdom through an eBook, you gain an appreciation for education.23. The term life-long learning takes on an entirely different meaning when you embark on your eBook authoring journey. You are living this experience not just talking about it.24. You are doing the world a favour by meeting the needs of niche markets that are often forgotten, dismissed or ignored by the standard publishers. Standard publishers have no interest in a market of 1000 to 10,000 people. But eBooks can reach this market and be profitable doing it. And much appreciated too. Analysis of your target market is a worthwhile experience in itself.25. eBook authors are overwhelmed by their acceptance into the targeted niche market. Relationships are built, new friends are made, and communication is opened up through eBooks.26. The thrill of checking your emails to see how many people have purchased your eBook - while you slept or were on vacation - is one that doesn't diminish. It's like magic that 4, 16, or 40 more sales occurred over the past few days while you carried on with life. It's exciting to know that others value what you have to offer and that you are making a difference in someone's life.27. Identifying and working with niche markets opens up new worlds of opportunities for eBook authors. Working with several related niche target markets at the same time builds reputations and expands business opportunities.28. Using the eBook as the focus on your business you can easily expand the goods and services you offer to your clients and customers. Consider the possibilities of an expanded business: CD/DVD versions of your eBook; other eBooks; teleseminars; workshops; training programs; consulting; coaching; joint ventures; affiliate marketing; web site hosting; keynote addresses; back of the room sales; co-authoring...29. Authoring eBooks gives authors the opportunity to measure success in terms other than financial gain. This includes: contacts with people in a more intimate fashion, marketing to the world not just your local area, exchanging ideas with like-minded individuals, expanding your horizons for personal and professional development, satisfying your interest in sharing your expertise and passion, recognition for what you can offer to others, appreciation for small business owners...30. eBook authors are on the leading edge of a technological revolution where portable devices like eBook readers will join the myriad of other devices transforming our lives. An entire generation is growing up with portable, instant, anywhere/anytime fulfillment of their needs. eBook sales are growing by 30-50% per year and will continue to grow as eBook reading devices improve. Current technology is providing eBook devices that are about the same size as a paperback with LED screens that making reading eBooks as easy on the eyes as reading a paperback.It all adds up to just one thing! What an experience!
 What are you waiting for? Take your first step. Take a chance of a lifetime.
 Author an eBook.© 2005 Paul Jackson

Authoring an eBook in 10 Basic Steps

2012-02-26T15:06:16Z

WillyHunt3501: Created page with " Authoring a book, specifically an eBook (electronic book), is easy, affordable and profitable. Share your expertise and experience with an international on-line commun..."

Authoring a book, specifically an eBook (electronic book), is easy, affordable and profitable. Share your expertise and experience with an international on-line community of learners.Fulfill that dream of yours to write a book and become a published author. Take that workshop you've written and presented; take that unit of study you've produced; take that wish that there had been a book about something when you needed it most and convert that need into an eBook for others to use and enjoy; take that interest or hobby and convert your personal experience and professional expertise into an instructional eBook; share your love of a topic with others to encourage them to share your joy or support them in their quest for further skill development; use your experiences to get someone else 'turned on' to what you have been enjoying for years; provide the attitudes, skills, and knowledge for others that will help them do a better job... Yes, you can accomplish all of this and so much more with eBooks.The technology of eBook production has become so remarkably easy, affordable and yes, even profitable that you do not need to be a computer expert to become an accomplished and published author.Whatever your status: student or teacher; worker or administrator; amateur or professional; experienced or inexperienced; veteran or newcomer; rising star or established guru; famous or infamous... you have something to offer to others who have not had the same experiences or accomplished the things you have done.We at Awaken The Author Within and eBook Authoring Services have broken the eBook authoring process into 10 steps. A brief outline of those steps is the focus of this article. The article is designed to inform you of the steps, assure you that anyone may accomplish the task, provide you with an outline of the process and point you in the direction of further information to make the process both an exhilarating personal adventure and a professional development activity of the highest order.WRITING is a POWERFUL TOOL. It is the DOING part of THINKING.The first step in the process is to have an IDEA for a book. There are few of us who haven't said to ourselves at one time or another, "Some day I'd like to write a book about ..." or "I wish someone would have provided me with information about ____ when I was first starting out." or "Now that I've reached this point in my career (hobby, role, interest,...) I'd like to share my experiences with others." Whatever you choose as a topic for your first eBook in particular, choose something about which you already are a self-proclaimed 'expert'! And something about which you are passionate.The second step in the process is to spend some time in REFLECTION. This is a step that goes hand in hand with the first step. You've already thought about such things as why you would want to write an eBook; what benefits writing an eBook would give to you, the author, and your readers; who would benefit most from the sharing of your experience and expertise; when would be a good time to begin the process; where you might find an audience for your eBook; how you would get your eBook to those people who would most benefit from it. At this step, share your idea of authoring an eBook and the chosen topic with as many people as possible to get their feedback. Be a risk-taker! In essence, at this stage you are working towards the third step.The COMMITMENT step is the first really important one, the step that separates the dreamers from the doers; the step that embraces change for personal and professional gain; the step that says you are willing to acquire the attitudes; skills, and knowledge to become not only a published author but a successful one as well; the step that moves you into an adventure that will assure you that you will never be the same person again. This is the most exciting step along the way!The fourth step is called the BIG PICTURE step since it is here that you call upon both your realistic and your fanciful self to envision the final product. Imagine your eBook cover published on a web site, your eBook being read by others, your professional and personal pride in your accomplishment, your exhilaration at earning money as an author (if you choose to sell your eBook), your "dream come true"! At this step you must also make decisions involving such big picture ideas as: the scope of your eBook, the number of eBooks in the series if more than one eBook is required, the topic or topics to be covered, the background information you already possess or need to acquire, the people who can act as mentors...After the big picture ideas have been dealt with, the fifth step is the choice of how the eBook information is to be CHUNKED. By chunking we mean breaking the general topic into manageable and palatable parts for the learner who acquires your eBook. This depends entirely upon the content of your eBook and the method(s) you see as best to present the material based on your knowledge of the topic. This can range from the simplest format of chapters to question and answer format to case studies to worksheets to theory and practice applications to problems and solutions to how to books to journals of discovery to...Step six is the step we all associate with authoring an eBook - the WRITING! In reality, this step is merely one of the 10! It is often the most enjoyable because you are writing about a topic about which you have a passion as well as skills, attitudes, and knowledge you wish to share with others. Your personal and professional experiences will make this step a most enjoyable one. Write in an informal manner with impassioned emotion. Write like you mean it! This type of writing is as far from a thesis as you can get - a beauty of eBooks! Use a friendly letter style and talk to your reader much like you would do in a conversation. Although this step may be the most enjoyable, it does require a myriad of decisions by you, the author. You must consider such things as font size and style, spacing on the pages, header and footer considerations, word processing software to use, the length of the eBook, research that needs to be done, links to the web you are going to use, material you must gather together, compiling method for publishing,... plus many others. This is a lengthy list, but manageablewhen you are prepared for it.The EDITING step, the seventh, is by far the most time consuming as any of you who have written before will attest. When your work is to be published you want it to be as perfect as possible in so many ways not just spelling and grammar. Such things as visual appeal and use of white space on the page, style of titles, table of contents, use of black line masters, resources and sources of information, ease of use... are also considerations. Make sure you have plenty of friends to help you with this step, likely the most time consuming step in the entire process.PUBLISHING or COMPILING your eBook is step eight which is the step required to turn your book into an eBook! The quality of your eBook when it is presented to your audience in its final form depends on the quality of your editing in step seven. You may choose to have your eBook compiled in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - .exe) or PDF (Portable Document Format - .pdf) or any of the other ways you can have it done to accommodate different reading devices. Your eBook must be made ready to be downloaded from the Internet on to a computer. You will have the choice of doing a little, none or as much work as you wish at this stage. Your decision will depend on the amount of personal time you wish to invest and the amount of money you wish to pay for the services needed. This cost is minimal regardless of the choice you make. Cost is not a deterrent to getting your eBook compiled.Like in the previous step, MARKETING your eBook can be done with as much personal effort as you wish. It is important in step nine that you get your eBook to market! You can become your own marketer by creating a web site. Other web sites and professional agents or marketers are also available to do this job. The costs vary depending on the choice you make and there are many choices available to you. Again, cost is not a deterring factor here. For your own sake and the sake of your eBook, you should get involved in the marketing of your eBook as much as possible. After all, you have the most important investment of all in your eBook - your emotional involvement and you know the 'niche' market best for whom you wrote the eBook in the first place. In addition, you stand to gain personally and financially by increasing exposure of the eBook.The absolute best step in the process which coincidentally is the "10" step, is CELEBRATING! You deserve a celebration for the final step in this literary and eCommerce adventure. You need to thank those dozens of others who contributed in ways big and small to your success. You should rejoice in the euphoria of accomplishing a dream! You should celebrate the fact that many people go through their entire lives without ever accomplishing what you had dreamed of accomplishing - becoming a published author!Share your success with others and encourage them to do the same thing. Become a mentor to your friends and acquaintances. Share the joy. Leave your mark!Dare it be mentioned - there just may be one more eBook in you! Let the adventure begin ANEW!© 2005 Paul Jackson